The investment opportunities created by economic policies and increasing urbanization have enhanced demand for urban and peri-urban land. Fertile agricultural land is being converted to other uses. Around 1/3 more of ...The investment opportunities created by economic policies and increasing urbanization have enhanced demand for urban and peri-urban land. Fertile agricultural land is being converted to other uses. Around 1/3 more of the existing area under forests is needed to meet the targets of national forest policy. In the last two decades, 9% pastures have disappeared. The hills being removed cause threat to environment. The farmers seem to overuse land and other inputs. In the peri-urban areas agricultural fertile lands are many times forcefully acquired for non-agricultural uses, which result in violent protests and judicial interventions. A few cases of vast land use change, motive forces for such change, effect of change in land use on livelihood and on quality and costs of fresh vegetable supply are discussed in this paper. The partially used and unused data collected for earlier studies and some data collected for this paper have been used. The increase in land prices due to enhanced income of some sections, future need of prime land and returns from other than agricultural uses seem to be the driving force for change in land use, affecting the livelihood of people dependent upon farming who are migrating to nearby areas. Each shift of peri-urban agriculture will result in loss of quality, increase wastage by 6% and enhance costs of leafy vegetables by more than 5.5%. For an ideal urban land use, a balanced multi land use policy emphasizing peri-urban agriculture and forestry is suggested.展开更多
文摘The investment opportunities created by economic policies and increasing urbanization have enhanced demand for urban and peri-urban land. Fertile agricultural land is being converted to other uses. Around 1/3 more of the existing area under forests is needed to meet the targets of national forest policy. In the last two decades, 9% pastures have disappeared. The hills being removed cause threat to environment. The farmers seem to overuse land and other inputs. In the peri-urban areas agricultural fertile lands are many times forcefully acquired for non-agricultural uses, which result in violent protests and judicial interventions. A few cases of vast land use change, motive forces for such change, effect of change in land use on livelihood and on quality and costs of fresh vegetable supply are discussed in this paper. The partially used and unused data collected for earlier studies and some data collected for this paper have been used. The increase in land prices due to enhanced income of some sections, future need of prime land and returns from other than agricultural uses seem to be the driving force for change in land use, affecting the livelihood of people dependent upon farming who are migrating to nearby areas. Each shift of peri-urban agriculture will result in loss of quality, increase wastage by 6% and enhance costs of leafy vegetables by more than 5.5%. For an ideal urban land use, a balanced multi land use policy emphasizing peri-urban agriculture and forestry is suggested.
